


I'll Make You Happy

by live_laugh_read



Series: Billabong Missing Moments [28]
Category: Billabong Series - Mary Grant Bruce
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26646727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/live_laugh_read/pseuds/live_laugh_read
Summary: At the conclusion of Billabong's Daughter, it comes to light that Wally and Norah are engaged to be married.  However, Wally appears not to have ever formally asked her to marry him - so they must have simply decided to be married.  Here is that outtake.
Relationships: Norah Linton/Wally Meadows
Series: Billabong Missing Moments [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/392605
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	I'll Make You Happy

**Author's Note:**

> "Norah - when will you marry me?"
> 
> "When you are quite better," she said. "But you asked me that this morning!" 
> 
> ...
> 
> "And I will tell you something. Do you know, Wally, you've never asked me to marry you!"
> 
> "Did I not?" he said. "Great Scott, how careless! I must have forgotten. Does it matter much.. my girl?" 
> 
> "Not a bit," said Norah.

“I do feel awfully sorry for Laura, though,” reflected Wally, looking suddenly sombre. “It’s a rough go of it, to become a widow and then find out your inheritance is under threat!” 

Norah was silent for a moment, her grey eyes watching him patiently. Presently she answered, “I hope that now this business has been cleared up she can retire peacefully to Brisbane, and be done with the station-management that she hates so much.” 

“Poor old Edward must be turning in his grave. I wonder if he had any notion that Dobson was shady - at least, I have to think he would have let him go if he had known.” 

“It sounds like he was more worried about his failing health, at the end,” Norah said. “It must have been a burden, thinking about how he would leave his wife.” 

Wally looked at her, memorising in his mind every line and shadow on her face. “That would be a heavy burden for any man, I believe. If I were to pass on before you -” 

He was cut off by her hand over his mouth, her face suddenly near his. “We will worry about that when the time comes, which I hope is many years off yet. Just now I only want you to think about getting better so that you can marry me.” 

Unable to speak as he was, his eyes searched hers, attempting to pour forth as much feeling as was possible. “So - you will, then?” He gave a short laugh. “Lord knows, I’ve never asked you properly to marry me, but it seems pretty well set in stone.” 

“If you’ll have me,” she answered. “I don’t believe we need to be overly formal about things, Wally - after coming so close to losing you, all I feel I want is to be your wife, so that I can look after you and stop you from getting into such trouble again - at least, not by yourself.” 

Something fierce burned in his chest, and he took her hand. “After this little adventure, I have no desire to repeat my experience here. Say that when I’m quite better, and we are all home together, on a fine day at Billabong, I’ll make you my wife. And I’ll make you happy.” 

There seemed to Norah no need to answer him: she pressed her lips to his temple, before resting her head upon his shoulder. They sat thus in a comfortable silence for a while, enjoying each other’s presence, before he spoke again. 

“I’m truly sorry, Norah, for worrying you so.” 

“Don’t worry about that,” said she, serenely. “I have worried about you for the last decade. Some of it has come to naught, and some has ended in you injuring yourself in body or soul. But as long as we are together, I believe I can stand it.” 

Several peaceful minutes passed, and Wally let the steady ticking of the clock on the wall ease him off into a deep slumber, leading him into dreams of the long drawing-room at Billabong, decorated everywhere he could see with sprays of flowers. The people he loved best were there, well dressed and bearing smiles on their faces. And when he turned toward the door, there stood Norah, underneath an arch of white flowers, resplendent in an ivory gown, her brilliant smile for him alone.

The dream shifted, and this time he was in the stables at Billabong. He stood at the entrance to Garryowen’s stall, watching Norah brush the big bay with deft, measured strokes. In the shaft of sunlight streaming through the door, he could see the gold wedding ring gleaming on her left hand, accompanied with a no less golden engagement ring. She turned to smile at him, and with a start he realised she was pregnant - there was a slight but yet noticeable bulge that stretched her silk shirt, and somehow he knew that it was their child who lay within. 

Much to Wally’s chagrin, the scene dissolved, and this time they lay together on a picnic rug by the shores of the lagoon. Norah was older, yet the grey eyes still shone and there was a sheen to her hair, making it appear almost copper. She looked away from him, towards the lagoon, and he followed suit. There, in the shallows, in a small bathing suit, stood a little girl of no more than two. She kicked the water joyfully, a shout of laughter emitting from her lips. Small droplets fell on her hair, black as night, and when she turned to look back at them, Wally saw that her eyes were brown, like his own. 

Before he had a chance to say something, another figure emerged from the water behind the little girl. This was an older boy, bearing the same likeness to Wally, and aged perhaps seven. He splashed the little girl playfully, and they chased each other amid shouts and laughter. Wally drank in the scene with hungry eyes, looking back at Norah, who met his gaze with gentle eyes. He reached out a hand to caress her cheek, feeling the smooth skin under his thumb, and watched her close her eyes in contentment. 

Then there came a gradual darkness, and then there was light, and he opened his eyes. The plain ceiling of the hospital room was above him, and he saw the ticking clock on the opposite wall. An hour had passed since he had fallen asleep. 

His shoulder felt unnaturally light, as if relieved of a heavy weight, and he looked over to see Norah ensconced once more in her chair, reading a book. She looked up at him, and gave him the same brilliant smile he had seen in the vision of their wedding-day. Wally smiled back, knowing suddenly that everything would right itself, in time. 

How could it not, with Norah at his side? 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> So Wally never asked Norah to marry him (not that we know of, at any rate - he may have, in between Billabong's Daughter and Billabong Adventurers) which means that they must have come to An Understanding. My interpretation of MGB's writing is that it is heavily hinted when Norah leans down to kiss him after his fever breaks that they take that as a sort of 'we know we love one another' moment. They're not the most fussy of people, and neither would have made a big song and dance about it, simply carried on with things but just been... together.
> 
> So it stands to reason that when the topic of marriage came up, they wouldn't have skirted around it, but they wouldn't have been over-the-top either. In those days, it was pretty reasonable to think that if you were a couple in love, you should get married - that would be the logical next step, especially given that no *cough* goings-on would have taken place before marriage anyway. 
> 
> On top of this, Wally's just had a pretty narrow shave, just about getting away with his life, which is what I would call a signal from the universe for him and Norah to stop being so hung-up on each other and just get on with things. :) Life is too short to have regrets.
> 
> (A side note for all you Billabong readers out there: I have just finished a full and complete read-through of Billabong's Daughter, hence why I wrote this [and more BD fan fictions that are still in the works, lol]. We know from somewhat early on that Wally is pretty hung up on Norah, and I feel like I can trace this back two or three books at least. After Wally's injury and airlifting by Freddy Paxton, we return to Billabong where Norah is quiet and withdrawn, and leaps at any news of Wally. This seems to me like the first that we see of her feelings - as if she had realised them at the same time as Wally, when he saved her from the bull in Chapter 3. I think this is a fairly reasonable assumption?)


End file.
